Penn Station Inks Deals for 62 Stores, Preps for New Markets

Penn Station East Coast Subs signed nine multiunit deals this year for a total of 62 new restaurants. The franchise agreements are for new and existing markets in Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and North Carolina. The company will open in Columbia, Missouri; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Lansing, Michigan, for the first time next year.

Managing owner Ben Welke will open eight restaurants in Grand Rapids with his father, Tim, and his uncle, Tom. The Welkes currently own three Penn Station locations in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and are opening an additional restaurant in the Kalamazoo area next year.

Sean Bell and Rick Marquart have signed on to open three restaurants in Columbia, which is a new market for Penn Station.

Praveen Patel has signed a 10-unit deal for Nashville, Tennessee, with managing owner Marcus Queen. Patel already owns several hotels in Nashville.

Penn Station will enter Bowling Green for the first time with a three-unit deal signed by Jeremy Lancaster and Steve Ford. Lancaster was previously the general manager at a Penn Station restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky.

Rich Moore, who owns four Penn Station locations in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, has signed an agreement to open five additional stores in the Cleveland area.

Marc Nagy signed a five-unit deal for Charlotte, North Carolina. They opened their first restaurant in the market in late 2011.

Ryan and Emily Lackey own one Penn Station restaurant in London, Kentucky, and will open five restaurants in Chattanooga. His locations will be the first for Penn Station in Chattanooga.

Cheryl Kellogg will be the managing owner for eight new locations in Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kellogg is joined by her husband, Mark, and her brothers-in-law, Chris and Jeff. Their first location will open in Lansing next year.

Elliott Baum and Stewart Napier have signed a 15-unit agreement for southeast Michigan. They are targeting high profile trade areas in Wayne County and parts of Oakland County.